But despite that fame and fortune, this Michelangelo isn't ready to retire anytime soon.

"I feel, why waste what you have? You can only play so much golf or you can only travel so much. After a while, it gets old. That's my belief. This helps keep your mind alert. Again, I think it's a passion. What do you like doing? Creating companies is something I enjoy, and how do you do that? VSpring is one of the best vehicles."

Patel also wants to leave his mark in another way. He recently was appointed chairman of the governing authority board of the Utah Science, Technology and Research economic development initiative designed to boost the state's tech sector in the coming years.

"I'd like to see vSpring grow to be a very prominent venture fund, so that's something I want to do. And I want to see results from USTAR," Patel said. "Hopefully that's the kind of legacy I'll leave, where people will say, 'The folks who worked on USTAR made a difference to the state and generations to come.' "

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E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com